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663 to 1: Odds of being chosen for next month’s family reunion

September 9, 2015
Cho Gap-soon, 82, cries after finding out that she was not included among 500 preliminary candidates for the reunion of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War, at a Korea Red Cross office in Seoul, Wednesday. The candidates were chosen through a computer draw. (Yonhap)

Cho Gap-soon, 82, cries after finding out that she was not included among 500 preliminary candidates for the reunion of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War, at a Korea Red Cross office in Seoul, Wednesday. The candidates were chosen through a computer draw. (Yonhap)

By Do Je-hae

Five hundred preliminary candidates to attend family reunions of the two Koreas were selected Wednesday through a random computer draw.

From these, the Korean Red Cross will choose 200 people after examining their health. Finally, after exchanging their records with North Korean authorities, the South will finalize the list to 100 people.

They are only a small portion of more than 66,000 South Koreans that are currently living and are unable to meet their family members across the border, which makes the odds of being chosen at about 663 to 1.

On Tuesday, the two Koreas agreed to let families separated since the 1950-1953 Korean War meet at Mount Geumgang, a resort in the North, from Oct. 20 to 26. The family reunions were halted in February 2014.

Reunions are resuming as a result of the Aug. 25 inter-Korean agreement to ease military tension.

The list of proposed participants, including family members of 50 prisoners of war and abductees held in the North, will be sent to North Korea next week, with the final list to be exchanged on Oct. 8.

Participants from the South will stay in the North for two nights and three days. But they will only have about 11 hours with their relatives, according to sources.

Once chosen, the participants will be required to take part in an education program hosted by the Ministry of Unification in Gangwon Province on Oct. 19.

On the first day, the participants will gather at a general meeting at the mountain resort. On the second day, they will have time for individual gatherings. On the last day, they will have some more time to spend with their families before parting ways in the afternoon.

The participants will be staying at a hotel in the resort, but they will not be allowed to share rooms.

Even if they spend three days together, they are expected to be together for only 11 hours approximately. South Korean authorities will visit the hotel and other facilities to be used for a prior examination.

The mountain resort has hosted all of the separated family reunions since 2002, because it takes longer to prepare such meetings in either Seoul or Pyongyang.

The possibility of a missile launch by the North next month around the founding day of the Workers’ Party on Oct. 10 is emerging as a factor that could jeopardize the reunions.

Pyongyang has unilaterally delayed scheduled reunion events, including one in September 2013.